MILWAUKEE — It’s been three months since Gov. Tony Evers signed a law that allows cities to tow vehicles of repeat reckless drivers.
A local police chief says the ordinance comes with a problem that makes it difficult to enforce.
"One of the issues being that it allows you to tow a car if they have a previous conviction in which they haven't paid their fine, but there's no readily available way to find out if someone hasn't paid their fine,” Chief Mark Ferguson said.
Chief Ferguson says if a driver has prior traffic violations, the computer software in patrol vehicles only shows whether those citations are pending or if there is a prior conviction. Finding out if those fines are paid takes an extra step.
"The only way you're going to find out if the citation is not satisfied is probably by calling that court clerk,” he said.
Milwaukee’s municipal court has a website where people can type in a driver’s name and birth date to determine whether they have outstanding fines. But several smaller municipalities don’t have the same online system.
"So if it happens at 2 p.m. you might have some luck, but if it's 2 o'clock in the morning, I don't think there's going to be any court clerks to figure that out,” Chief Ferguson said.
TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan contacted every police department in Milwaukee County to find out where this policy is being utilized.
Nearly half of the municipalities do not have a repeat reckless driving tow ordinance and those police departments say there are no plans to implement them.
Seven municipalities also don’t have the ordinance in place, but city leaders say they are in the process of passing one or at least discussing the possibility.
That leaves two cities that currently utilize the policy: Milwaukee and West Allis.
As of last week, both police departments said they have yet to tow a single vehicle under the ordinance.
"Of course, it's a problem,” said Milwaukee Alderman Lamont Westmoreland. “Every loophole is a problem."
Alderman Westmoreland thinks the problem could be solved by taking the ordinance one step further.
"The simple solution is if a car is pulled over and they're driving recklessly, who cares if it was their first offense or second offense,” he said.
He’s calling on state lawmakers to revisit the new law to take unpaid fines out of the equation.
"First offense, impound,” he said. "If it's your vehicle or not, impound. I don't care anymore. People are dying."
It’s something the bill’s author, Rep. Bob Donovan, says he supports, but a revision has not been introduced at this point, according to his staff.
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